Uncanny | Matt Nielsen

This past weekend I was fishing up at Kolob Resorvoir. Just me, the squirrels and the damn ATV's. I was sitting in my chair enjoying the air, munching on some trail mix and drinking pepsi when I noticed a squirrel looking for food in the rocks to my right. I often enjoy just watching animals and nature in general while fishing. It helps to relax me. So, I decided to toss some of my trail mix out for this squirrel to eat. We sort of became friends.

This type of thing is not unusual in the wild today. I have often fed squirrels, birds or whatever else is around while out there. Things didn't get unusual until another squirrel showed up. The second squirrel I am assuming was a male, because he immediatley set out to dominate the first one. He would chase her off, take her food and even sniff her butt. The behavior bore an uncanny resemblence to the way my two cats act towards each other, complete with food thievery and butt sniffing.

This in turn led me to wonder how little that has changed even for humans. If you think about it, how many men out there are always trying to boss around and control their women? We may not actually sniff their butts (at least not in public), but on a more primal level we still act in much the same way. Just go to Wal-Mart on Saturday night sometime and watch people. It is not that much different.